Packet networking is a form of data communication in which data packets are routed from a source device to a destination device. Packets can be networked directly between a source node and a destination node, or the packets can be relayed through a number of intermediate nodes.
A wireless network can include a wireless device being connected to a network through a base station that is wired to the network. The wireless device can transmit data packets that are received by the base station and then routed through the network. The wireless network can include many base stations that are each wired to the network.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art mesh network. A shown in FIG. 1, each client A–E 110–150 is required to maintain a full tree 125, to access each client and each server to which the client 120 can gain access. This is disadvantageous because it requires a large memory, which expands as the network expands.
It is desirable to have a wireless mesh network that can continually analyze the quality of routing paths through the wireless mesh network, and select an optimal path from among all available routing paths.